Behind the Scenes

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In conversation with Nick Bowling and Vanessa Stalling

Right before the start of performances for The Lehman Trilogy, co-directors Nick Bowling (NB) and Vanessa Stalling (VS) sat down with dramaturgs Carol Ann Tan (CAT) and DeRon S. Williams (DSW) to unpack the play, this all-new Chicago production, and how they’ve been working as co-directors.  This interview has been edited for length. Carol Ann Tan (CAT): The Lehman Trilogy tells the story of the rise and fall of Lehman Brothers, an American global financial ...
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Engaging the Community

TimeLine’s Living History Teaching Artists have an icebreaker that they love to play with new groups of people. They call the game, “Where my people from” and provide a series of prompts that a single person can say to the group:  Where my people from, ...
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A Greener TimeLine

TimeLine, a group of storytellers at heart, has been examining more closely the stories we tell—to ourselves and others. This means that we’re looking at the historical and present-day impacts of our choices and our resources. The push to uncover and to tell a different ...
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Designing TimeLine

PLEASE NOTE: This post is one from a series of blog posts that tells the story of TimeLine’s New Home Project over several years. Therefore, some information presented below may no longer be accurate. For the most up-to-date information about the project, please visit our ...
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Surveying the experts: YOU

Earlier this year, when hopes about rapidly containing the pandemic were high, we updated our subscribers and audience members to let everyone know about our prospective plans. We didn’t have shows or dates to announce, but rather a promise and a commitment to our values:  ...
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Everyone’s history

If you explored our newest Strategic Plan in September’s Behind the ‘Line post, you saw that one of our Primary Excellence Goals (PEG) is “Everyone’s History.” While this PEG has been a formal part of our strategic plans since 2017, diversity, inclusion, and community-focused programming have been woven throughout our strategic plans for much longer. Over time, Everyone’s History has evolved from the desire to be a “diverse” organization toward concrete, intentional actions and programs ...
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Dear TimeLine, What Does Voting Mean To You?

In honor of this year’s presidential election, we reached out to TimeLine company, associate artists, board, and staff to ask about their views on voting. We asked them three questions: What was your first memory involving voting? What can you remember about the first time ...
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Setting the stage

As we head into fall, go Behind the ‘Line with this reflection on recent happenings at TimeLine, including our online programs celebrating Relentless and Campaigns, Inc.; a multi-week exploration of The New York Times’ “1619 Project” through our weekly staff LunchGroup; and a new landlord ...
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Looking forward together

In our last post on August 7, we shared TimeLine’s commitment to being open, honest, and forthcoming throughout this crisis and beyond. And we revealed our primary goals for the year. Today, we’re sharing more about the how, the why, and the what of our ...
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And then the pandemic happened

Change happens. Change is definitely going to happen, no matter what we plan for or expect or hope for or set in place. We will adapt to that change, or we will become irrelevant.  – adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy Members of TimeLine’s staff read ...
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